Hillsborough: Then & Now

One Hillsborough survivor tells the story of how he survived the tragedy and how it affected their life.

27 years have passed and yet the emotion, the grief and the affects still remain. Even for those who weren’t involved in the crush. But the chance to fight alongside the families was honorable enough.

One man who was there however, Chris. Chris was only 22 at the time and would follow Liverpool home and away. An avid Liverpool supporter and keen to see his team in action. On a “beautiful” spring afternoon, he says: “We were all looking forward to it. Looking forward to the match, Nottingham Forest and (eventually) looking forward to going to Wembley”.

“We were all looking forward to it. Looking forward to the match”

Arriving early at around 11 o’clock, from what seemed a standard, simple drive. Upon arrival fans were excited and keen to see what was posed a great game.

Unbeknownst to the gathering crowds however, there was a failure in security. Prior to going through the turnstiles, fans did not get checked for seating or standing areas. Thus, supporters were not given correct guidance on where to go. Chris stated: “Everyone got to the turnstiles at a similar time and couldn’t get in. That’s when police opened the gate”.

Though fans were still being left to gather around, police were struggling to get a hold of the situation. A request to halt traffic flow by a Superintendent along Leppings Lane was issued, this request was not met until fifteen minutes later.

On his assessment of how the policing could have been better, Chris said: “Police should have been checking for ticket-less fans”. He added: “When the police opened the gate, they could have blocked off the tunnel there was entrances to the side of Leppings Lane”.

The situation was gradually becoming worse and fans were now aware of the danger they were in. The supporters already in the stadium were asked to move further forward to accommodate for the fans coming in. However, with the side pens visibly less occupied supporters were guided into an area that was, by now, over capacity.

Now in the stadium, stewards for the stadium were not supplied to the audience in attendance. This meant that the supporters who were in the central pen were not given advice on where to sit in order to avoid a crush. On his recollection Chris said: “There’s always stewards you can go and ask ‘where is my seat’”. He added: “There was no Sheffield stewards. No police patrolling us. Even though we were full to capacity”.

“There was no Sheffield stewards”

Not all fans had made it in and yet there was still some waiting to be let through. It was moments until kick off and supporters were now apprehensively waiting for the first whistle. Chris went through gate C and quickly discovered “There’s something wrong here, there’s too many people in here”.

Fans now had to do what they could to stay alive. Many were able to grab a hand to pull them onto the higher stand. Although many were pressed up against the fence at the front of each pen. However, many of those who were knocked down to the ground, were unable to get back up. Chris remembers “The lad I was with just said, ‘just flex, just be strong, really tense yourself’”. Eventually being let onto the pitch and to a more spacious area.

Chris and the fans around him now began making their way out of the stadium and to a safer location. Sitting in silence on a coach back to Liverpool, Chris says: “It was horrible driving back from Sheffield because at first it was like ‘there’s six dead and then it was twenty six. And then it was forty”. He added: “Every half an hour it just to be another ten people had died”.